Ah, Australia. Swoon. If you’re going to be working or studying here, you’ll have plenty of time to explore. And you’d well and truly be a fool not to capitalise on that. If you’re reading this post out of the context of my series on moving to Australiaand just want some travel tips, ignore those last bits! This is for you, too.

I’m really jazzed to share just a few of the places that make this sunburnt country so unique and enchanting, and make me never ever want to leave (I’m so not alone in this, speak to anyone who’s ever visited). I’ve written out travel tips and a couple sample itineraries that link out to more photos on older blog posts. Also read my more detailed travel guides on what to see & do in Sydney, The Illawarra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, The Whitsundays, and how to experience the Great Barrier Reef.

Hot tips for planning an amazing trip

First things first, if you are travelling to Australia as a tourist, you’ll want to get an ETA (Electronic Travel Authority, which is just a complex name for a travel visa). Really, all you need to do is apply for the ETA 601 online and pay the online processing fee of about $20 (“the ETA is free”, but, oh, there’s a fee for submitting online. You have to admire the work of the marketing team involved here, really sneaky stuff.) You should get an email back either the same day or the next day, and your visa (sorry, “ETA”) is automatically attached to the electronics in your passport.

Just an important side note that the American dollar is currently very strong against the Aussie dollar, meaning that prices are not what they appear here! It’s easy to forget to factor in the exchange, but your $30 hostel is really only costing you $21, so celebrate the decline of our economy with a few extra beers.

Flying

Australia is truly huge, in case you haven’t noticed, so the best method of travel is flight. Domestic flights are usually quite cheap, which also helps. We have 2 budget airlines, Tiger and Jetstar and both of these are bare-bones airlines, but they get the job done and they will get you pretty much anywhere. The next nicer option (i.e. more expensive) is Virgin Australia, and then lastly Qantas.

For flights within Australia, I usually look at Momondoand then look at the airline’s pages directly if I’m not seeing anything I like. A good price for a Sydney to Melbourne flight is about $80 one way, though you can get even cheaper ones during specials and you can get up into the $200’s if you’re really picky about the time of your flight (usually super early and super late are the cheapest times to fly, as well as weekdays.

Road trips

That being said, there are some places that need to be experienced via road trip. VIC’s Great Ocean Road is one, and coastal NSW, both south and north of Sydney, is also stunning. There aren’t too many free campsites in Australia, but this app is pretty handy for finding the few there are and also finding nice paid camping spots along your route. It might be a good idea to rent a car if you would like to see smaller coastal towns, as that is your only way of getting there!

Be aware that public transport is only well built up around the biggest cities, and not far beyond them. From Sydney, you can get to Wollongong on the train (90min south) and down to Kiama, or Newcastle (2hrs north), but not much past that. Actually, you can get to Melbourne on the train, but it takes close to 15 hours, so..

Venture out to Perth and find that you’ll need a car to get beyond the city, and that applies to a lot of Australia. Whatever you do, don’t go cruising around in huge tour buses, it’s my most detested method of travel and it’s a great way to see nothing special.

On your road trip, fill up fuel whenever you see it, I can’t stress that enough. Multiple times, Cal and I have coasted on fumes into the servo and found that we only had 1 or 2L left in the tank. Even on the Hume Highway between Melbourne and Sydney, there are not heaps of stations, so skipping one could mean running out of fuel 20km from the next one and having to walk in 40C heat.

Where to stay

If you want to stay in a hotel, expect to pay big bucks. Hostels will only run you about $30/night and are usually quite nice. I won’t list every hostel I like, because that would take all night, but here’s my favourite in Sydney, it’s about 5 minutes walk from Central Station and in a great spot in town. Also, directly above a very tacky and very sweaty, but very cheap backpacker bar, ScuBar. You can even spring for 2 person or 3 person private rooms if you’re with people, it usually won’t cost too much more and will be worth it for the privacy. Most hostels you stay at will have kitchen facilities and all the bits for you to cook there if you want to save money that way.

(Almost all the times I’ve stayed in hostels in Australia, something weird has happened. In Melbourne, a middle-aged man rubbed lotion on himself in the room for 2hrs while maintaining direct eye-contact with us. In Sydney, an apparently homeless man in the bunk below me offered to give me a nighttime “massache”. And in Cairns, I found a used condom next to the bed. No thank you. BUT, don’t let me put you off hostels, it’s totally part of the experience.)

A really nice option is also Couchsurfing, where you can stay with locals for free. I’ve hosted a number of people and love getting to meet new friends from all over the world. Create an account and make a post about where you’re going, when, and who you are. You can even look at people’s profiles in the area and message them directly if they sound like future pals.

When to travel

Pay mind to the seasons. Summer is a miserable time to visit northern anywhere, since it’s the rainy season. Plus, it’s crazy hot. Winter, on the other hand, is an awful time to visit Tasmania, as it’s freezing down there. Even in June or July, Cairns will be warm enough to swim, so consider that a winter destination. Ditto Darwin and NT. Most of WA is best in spring or autumn, while VIC, NSW, and southern QLD are really good year round.

Drive another 2 hours to Dromana, on the Mornington Peninsula, and soak up some sun before driving another hour to stay in St. Kilda.

Leave the car behind and take the tram into Melbourne for a poke around. Go shopping on Chapel St., have coffee by Degraves Subway, wander the Laneways, and have dinner on the Yarra at South Bank. The Merrywell has great burgers.

Drive an hour from St. Kilda to stay in either Geelong or Torquay at the start of the Great Ocean Road

Drive 2 hours along the Great Ocean Road, stopping for lunch in Lorne, and reach the 12 Apostles. Make it back to either Torquay or St. Kilda.

Return your rental car to the Melbourne airport and fly back to Sydney to catch your flight home.

Sample Itinerary 2: Sydney, Melbourne, and the Reef (9-12 days)

Take a train to South Yarra station or tram to the corner of Toorak & Chapel to go out for the night on Chapel St., starting off at Imperial, and working your way down the street to Pawn & Co., Lucky Coq, and finishing the night at Revlover.

I'm Brooke, a former Seattle native turned Sydney local with a great love for international travel, tall mountains, and painfully spicy foods. Brooke Around Town is where I chronicle my (mis)adventures and share travel photos―I'm writing my own story and I want it to be a good one! When I'm not frolicking around the world, I'm slaving away towards a PhD in biomechanics, hanging out with Cal & our furry cat son, Henri, or daydreaming about my next big adventure!